Award Winners

Rachel Stephens – Hidden in Plain Sight – Winner, 2023 SECAC Award for Excellence in Scholarly Research and Publication

Elizabeth Findley Shores – Shared Secrets, Winner, 2023 Booker Worthen Literary Prize

Colin Woodward – Country Boy – Winner, 2023 J. G. Ragsdale Book Award from the Arkansas Historical Association

Jayson Iwen – Roze & Blud – Winner, 2020-2021 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award

Craig Blais – Moon News – Finalist, 2022 Housatonic Book Awards

Terry Anne Scott – Lynching and Leisure – Winner, 2022 Ottis Lock Endowment “Best Book” Award from the East Texas Historical Association

Jason Winders – George Dixon – Winner, 2022 NASSH Book Award, Monograph

Darcy Pattison and Rich Davis – Friday Comes on Tuesday – Winner, 2022 Susannah DeBlack Award, Arkansas Historical Association

Kenneth Barnes – The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Arkansas – Winner, 2022 J.G. Ragsdale Book Award, Arkansas Historical Association

Kathleen Condray – Das Arkansas Echo – Winner, 2021 Booker Worthen Literary Prize

S. Charles Bolton – Fugitivism – Winner, 2020 Booker Worthen Literary Prize

Zaina AlsousA Theory of Birds – Winner, 2020 The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award, Arab American Book Awards

Rachel B. Herrmann – To Feast on Us as Their Prey – Winner, 2020 Association for the Study of Food and Society Book Award, Edited Volume

Jess Williard – Unmanly Grief – Finalist, 2020 Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award

Zaina AlsousA Theory of Birds – Winner, 2020 Norma Farber Book Award

Andrew J. Milson – Arkansas Travelers – Winner, 2020 J. G. Ragsdale Book Award, Arkansas Historical Association

Ángel García – Teeth Never Sleep – Finalist, 2020 Kate Tufts Discovery Award

Matthew Atencio, Becky Beal, E. Missy Wright, and ZáNean McClain – Moving Boarders – Winner, 2019 NASSS Outstanding Book Award

Phillip Douglas Howerton – The Literature of the Ozarks – Winner, 2019 Missouri Library Association Literary Award

Ángel García – Teeth Never Sleep – Winner, 2019 American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation

Montserrat Piera – Forging Communities – Winner, 2019 Association for the Study of Food and Society Book Award, best edited collection

Toby C. Rider and Kevin B. Witherspoon – Defending the American Way of Life – Winner, 2019 NASSH Book Award, Anthology

Ángel García – Teeth Never Sleep – Finalist, 2019 PEN Open Book Award

James L. Moses – Just and Righteous Causes – Winner, 2019 Booker Worthen Literary Prize

Korydon H. Smith and Tomà Berlanda – Interpreting Kigali, Rwanda – Winner, 2019 EDRA Great Places Award

Patsy Watkins – It’s All Done Gone – Winner, 2018 Ned Shank Award for Outstanding Preservation Publication from Preserve Arkansas

Devon G. Peña, Luz Calvo, Pancho McFarland, and Gabriel R. Valle – Mexican-Origin Foods, Foodways, and Social Movements – Winner, 2018 ASFS Book Award from the Association for the Study of Food and Society.

Mildred Diane Gleason – Dardanelle and the Bottoms – Winner, 2018 Worthen Prize from the Central Arkansas Library System

Rita Liberti and Maureen M. Smith – San Francisco Bay Area Sports – Winner of the 2018 NASSH Book Award for best edited collection.

Guy Lancaster – Bullets and Fire – Winner, 2018 John William Graves Book Award

Diane Gleason – Dardanelle and the Bottoms – Winner, 2018 J. G. Ragsdale Book Award, Arkansas Historical Association

Jeff Shannon – Shadow Patterns – Winner of the 2017 Ned Shank Award for Outstanding Preservation Publication

Sanderia Faye – Mourner’s Bench – Winner of the 2017 Arkansiana Award, Arkansas Library Association

Frances Schenkkan – Mr. Stevens’s Secretary – Finalist for the John A. Robertson Award for First Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of Letters.

David K. Wiggins and Ryan A. Swanson – Separate Games – Winner of the 2017 NASSH Book Award for best edited collection.

Jennifer Jensen WallachDethroning the Deceitful Pork Chop – Winner of the 2017 Association for the Study of Food and Society Award, best edited collection.

Kenneth Barnes – Anti-Catholicism in Arkansas – Winner of the 2017 Ragsdale Award, Arkansas Historical Association

Sanderia Faye – Mourner’s Bench – Winner of the 2017 Philosophical Society of Texas Book Award, Fiction

Joe Wilkins – When We Were Birds – Winner, 2017 Oregon Book Awards

Sanderia Faye – Mourner’s Bench – Winner of the 2016 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, Debut Fiction

Minion K.C. Morrison – Aaron Henry of Mississippi – Winner of the 2016 Lillian Smith Book Award

Chris Elzey and David Wiggins – DC Sports – Winner of the 2016 NASSH Book Award for best edited collection.

Geoff Winningham – Of the Soil – Winner of the 2015 Ned Shank Award for Outstanding Preservation Publication from the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas.

William Lindsey – Fiat Flux – Winner of the 2014 Booker Worthen Literary Prize

Steve Scafidi – To the Bramble and the Briar – Finalist for the 2014 Balcones Poetry Prize

Katherine E. Young – Day of the Border Guards – Honorable Mention, 2014 North Carolina Poetry Society’s Brockman-Campbell Award

Charles Witsell and Gordon Wittenberg – Architects of Little Rock – Winner of the 2014 Ned Shank Award for Outstanding Publication from the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas.

Mary Jane Warde – When the Wolf Came – 2014 Oklahoma Book Award, nonfiction

Vivienne Schiffer – Camp Nine2014 Susannah DeBlack Award

Spoma Jovanovic – Democracy, Dialogue, and Community Action – 2013 Winner of the Jane Jacobs Urban Communication Book Award from the Urban Communication Foundation, which recognizes an outstanding monograph that exhibits excellence in addressing issues of urban communication; Winner of Sue DeWine Distinguished Scholarly Book Award; Winner of the Top Book Award for Case Studies in Communications Ethics from the Communication Ethics Division of the National Communication Association.

Zohra Saed and Sahar Muradi – One Story, Thirty Stories – 2012 Silver Medalist, IPPY Awards

Michael Walsh – The Dirt Riddles – Winnner of the 2011 Thom Gunn Award

Eric Leigh – Harm’s Way – Finalist for the 2011 Thom Gunn Award

Brooks Blevins – Arkansas/Arkansaw – Winner of the 2011 Ragsdale Award, Arkansas Historical Association

Brooks Blevins – Arkansas/Arkansaw – Winner, 2010 Missouri Conference on History Book Award

Grif Stockley – Ruled by Race – Winner of the 2010 Booker Worthen Literary Prize

Sholeh Wolpé – Sin – Winner of the 2010 Lois Roth Persian Translation Prize

Daniel Donaghy – Start with the Trouble –  Winner of the 2010 Paterson Award for Literary Excellence (given to a past finalist for their main poetry prize); finalist for the Milt Kessler Poetry Award

Grif Stockley – Ruled by Race – Winner of the 2009 Ragsdale Award, Arkansas Historical Association

James Allen Hall – Now You’re the Enemy – 2009 Texas Institute of Letters Poetry Award; Finalist for the 2008 Independent Booksellers’ Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award; co-winner in the gay poetry category from Lambda Book Awards.

Gary Fincke – The Fire Landscape – Winner of the 2009 Paterson Award for Literary Excellence (given to a past finalist for their main poetry prize)

Dannye Romine Powell – A Necklace of Bees – Winner of the 2009 Brockman-Campbell Book Award.

Elizabeth Jacoway – Turn away Thy Son – Winner of the 2008 Booker Worthen Literary Prize

RT Smith – Outlaw Style – 2008 Virginia Poetry Book of the Year Award

Marc Smirnoff – The Oxford American Book of Great Music Writing – Gold Award, Music Category, 2008 ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award Winners

Christopher Bursk – The First Inhabitants of Arcadia – 2007 Paterson Poetry Prize

Elizabeth Hadaway – Fire Baton – 2007 Library of Virginia Award for Poetry; Walter E. Dakin Fellowship to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference; Finalist for the 2007 Independent Booksellers’ Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award

Sidney McMath – Promises Kept – Winner of the 2006 Booker Worthen Literary Prize

Elton Glaser – Here and Hereafter – Winner of the 2006 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry

Gary Fincke – Standing Around the Heart – Finalist for the 2006 Paterson Poetry Prize

Patrick Phillips – Chattahoochee – 2005 Kate Tufts Discovery Award

Billy Higgins — A Stranger and a Sojourner – Cowinner of the 2005 Ragsdale Award, Arkansas Historical Association

Sidney McMath – Promises Kept – Winner of the 2004 Ragsdale Award, Arkansas Historical Association

Michelle Boisseau – Trembling Air – Finalist for 2004 PEN USA Award for Poetry

Dannye Romine Powell – The Ecstasy of Regret – Winner of the 2003 Oscar Arnold Young Award; Winner of the 2003 Brockman Campbell Award; Finalist for the 2003 Foreword Magazine Best of the Small Press Book Awards; Finalist in the poetry category for the 2003 Southeastern Booksellers Association Prize

Grif Stockley – Blood in their Eyes – Winner of the 2002 Booker Worthen Literary Prize

Morris S. Arnold – The Rumble of a Distant Drum – 2001 Booker Worthen Literary Prize, 2002 S. G. Ragsdale Award, Arkansas Historical Association

S. Charles Bolton – Arkansas, 1800-1860: Remote and Restless – Winner of the 1999 Booker Worthen Literary Prize

Virginia Jeans Laas – Love and Power in the Nineteenth Century – Winner, 1999 Missouri Conference on History Book Award

Leon Stokesbury – Autumn Rhythm – Winner of the 1997 Poets Prize

Randy Finley – From Slavery to Uncertain Freedom – 1997 Certificate of Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History

Roy Reed – Faubus – 1997 New York Times Notable Book

Timothy P. Donovan, Willard B. Gatewood, Jr., and Jeannie M. Whayne – The Governors of Arkansas – 1996 Certificate of Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History

Jeannie M. Whayne – Cultural Encounters in the Early South – 1996 Certificate of Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History

Barvara Howes – Collected Poems, 1945-1990 – 1995 National Book Award Finalist

John L. Getman – Horses into the Night by Baltasar Porcel – 1995 Publishers Weekly Top 25 Books of the Year, 1995 Critics Choice Award from San Francisco Review of Books and Today’s First Edition

Carolyn Gray LeMaster – A Corner of the Tapestry – 1995 Arkansas Press Women’s Communications Contest Annual Honor Award, 1995 Certificate of Commendation from American Association for State and Local History, 1995 Arkansiana Award

Jean Sizemore – Ozark Vernacular Houses – 1995 Certificate of Commendation from American Association for State and Local History

Ben Johnson III – Fierce Solitude – 1995 Certificate of Commendation from American Association for State and Local History

Bobby Roberts and Carl Moneyhon – Portraits of Conflict series – 1995 Award of Merit from American Association for State and Local History

Bernard E. Powers – Black Charlestonians – 1995 Choice Outstanding Academic Book

Conger Beasley Jr. – We Are a People in This World – 1995 Spur Award in Contemporary Nonfiction from Western Writers of America, 1995 Nonfiction Finalist in the Society of Midland Authors 1995 Awards Contest

Paul Zimmer – Big Blue Train – Finalist, 1994 Society of Midland Authors Award

Elena B. Odio – Pres: The Story of Lester Young by Luc Delannoy – 1994 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award

Neil Compton – The Battle for the Buffalo River – 1993 Bush Administration Point of Light Recipient, 1994 Arkansiana Award

S. Charles Bolton – Territorial Ambition – 1994 Certificate of Commendation from American Association for State and Local History

Calvin R. Ledbetter, Jr. – Carpenter from Conway – 1994 Certificate of Commendation from American Association for State and Local History

Bobby Roberts and Carl Moneyhon – Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Mississippi in the Civil War – 1994 Certificate of Commendation from American Association for State and Local History

Jeannie M. Whayne and Williard B. Gatewood, Jr. – The Arkansas Delta – 1994 Virginia C. Ledbetter Prize

Morris S. Arnold – Colonial Arkansas, 1686-1804 – 1994 Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques from the Premier of France

Samual Hazo – The Past Won’t Stay Behind You – 1993 Pennsylvania State Poet

John Caldwell Guilds – Simms: A Literary Life – 1993 “Best Book” of South Carolina History, 1993 SCMLA Book Award, 1993 Choice Outstanding Academic Book

Stanford Lyman – Militarism, Imperialism, and Racial Accommodation – 1993 Mid-South Sociological Association Book Award

John William Graves – Town and Country – 1993 Certificate of Commendation from American Association for State and Local History

Swannee Bennett and William B. Worthen – Arkansas Made, Volumes I & II – 1993 Award of Merit from American Association for State and Local History

Enid Shomer – This Close to Earth – 1992 Eunice Tietjens Memorial Prize from Poetry Magazine

Dick Davis – A Kind of Love – 1992 Ingram Merrill Poetry Award

Julie Suk — The Angel of Obsession —1992 Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Award, 1993 Bess Hokin Prize, Poetry magazine

John DuVal – The Discovery of America – 1992 Harold Morton Landon Translation Prize

Douglas C. Jones – Come Winter – 1992 Owen Wister Award from the Western Writers of America

Edward Field, Gerald Locklin and Charles Stetler – A New Geography of Poets – 1992 AAUP Design Award

Tom T. Hall – The Laughing Man of Woodmont Coves – 1992 AAUP Design Award, 1992 Chicago Book Clinic Design Award

Marvin D. Jeter – Edward Palmer’s Arkansaw Mounds – 1992 Choice Outstanding Academic Book

Adele Logan Alexander – Ambiguous Lives – 1992 Gustavus Myers Center Outstanding Book on Human Rights

Jan Bell Groh – Evening the Score – 1992 Gustavus Myers Center Outstanding Book on Human Rights

Morris S. Arnold – Colonial Arkansas, 1686-1804 – 1992 Certificate of Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History

David Baker – Sweet Home, Saturday Night – 1991 Society of Midland Authors Award, 1991 Ohio Poet of the Year, 1995 Mary Carolyn Davies Award from the Poetry Society of America

John Fredrick Nims – Zany in Denim – 1991 Chicago Book Clinic Design Award

John William Graves – Town and Country – 1991 Arkansiana Award

Mescal Johnston – Home for the Holidays and Other Special Occasions – 19991 National Federation of Press Women, State and National Award Winner [cookbook]

R.V. Cassill – Collected Stories – 1990 AAUP Design Award [Designed by Brenda Zodrow]

John Clellon Holmes – Night Music – 1990 AAUP Design Award [Designed by Chiquita Babb]

Laurence Gonzales – The Still Point – 1990 Carl Sandburg Literary Arts Award

Dick Davis – Epic and Sedition – 1989 Publication Award of the Persian Heritage Foundation

Jimmie N. Rogers – The Country Music Message – 1989 Chicago Book Clinic Design Award [Designed by Chang-hee Russell]

William Mills – The Arkansas – 1989 Chicago Book Clinic Design Award [Designed by Chiquita Babb]

Bobby Roberts and Carl Moneyhon – Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Arkansas in the Civil War – 1989 Arkansiana Award

Bobby Roberts and Carl Moneyhon – Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Arkansas in the Civil War – 1988 AAUP Design Award [Designed by Chiquita Babb]

Bobby Roberts and Carl Moneyhon – Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Arkansas in the Civil War – 1988 Chicago Book Clinic Award [Designed by Chiquita Babb]

Pauline Mortensen – Back Before the World Turned Nasty – 1988 Utah Arts Council Publication Prize

Debra Bruce – Sudden Hunger – 1988 Chicago Book Clinic Award [Designed by Chiquita Babb], 1988 Carl Sandburg Literary Arts Award

Kenneth L. Smith – Sawmill – 1988 Virginia C. Ledbetter Prize

Daisy Bates – The Long Shadow of Little Rock – 1988 American Book Award

Kay Pritchett – Jonah and the Pink Whale – 1987 Casa de las Americas Prize

John DuVal – Long Blues in A Minor – 1986 Grand Prix Litteraire de la Ville de Lyon

Lewis Putnam Turco – Visions and Revisions in American Poetry – 1986 Melville Cane Award

Lily Peter – In the Beginning – 1984 Chicago Book Clinic Design Award

John DuVal – Cuckolds, Clerics and Countrymen – 1983 Choice Award

Ellen Gilchrist – In the Land of Dreamy Dreams – 1983 Saxifrage Prize